Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to wireless network communications, and, more specifically, to systems, methods, and devices for communicating between wireless devices to determine location of a device.
Description of the Related Art
In many telecommunication systems, communications networks are used to exchange messages among several interacting spatially-separated devices. Networks may be classified according to geographic scope, which could be, for example, a metropolitan area, a local area, or a personal area. Such networks would be designated respectively as a wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), local area network (LAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or personal area network (PAN). Networks also differ according to the switching/routing technique used to interconnect the various network nodes and devices (e.g. circuit switching vs. packet switching), the type of physical media employed for transmission (e.g. wired vs. wireless), the set of communication protocols used (e.g. Internet protocol suite, SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking), Ethernet, etc.), and the frequency at which communications take place (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.).
Wireless networks are often preferred when the network elements are mobile and thus have dynamic connectivity needs, or if the network architecture is formed in an ad hoc, rather than fixed, topology. Wireless networks employ intangible physical media in an unguided or guided propagation mode using electromagnetic waves in the radio, microwave, infra-red, optical, etc. frequency bands. Wireless networks advantageously facilitate user mobility and rapid field deployment when compared to fixed wired networks.
One or more mobile devices in a wireless network may be configured to determine its position. Current methods for determining position of mobile devices may require knowledge of locations of static or mobile references with reference to which the mobile device determines its position. However, for truly mobile devices (e.g., cell phones or computers, or other devices that may be taken anywhere in the world), maintaining or communicating a list of deployment locations for wireless nodes (e.g., access points, cells, etc.) may be unfeasible and extremely resource intensive. Alternatively, such a list of deployment locations may be unnecessary where positioning of the mobile device need only be in relation to the single wireless node with which the mobile device is communicating. For example, a mobile device (e.g., an automated drone or an electronic vehicle) may communicate with a charging location. Accordingly, the mobile device may only need to know it's location in relation to the charging location and may not care about the location of the charging location in relation to other charging locations or other wireless nodes. Accordingly, the list of wireless node deployment locations may not be necessary and may take up memory of the mobile device of which there may be limited capacity. However, current methods of positioning of the mobile device may be performed via triangulation, requiring three wireless nodes communicating with the mobile device and a centralized device to determine the position of the device based on the communications. Thus, improved systems, methods, and devices for identifying a position of the mobile device between itself and a single other device are desired.